Centro Internazionale Vittorio Podrecca - Teatro Meraviglie

The Centro Internazionale Vittorio Podrecca – Teatro delle Meraviglie di Maria Signorelli in Cividale preserves puppets and stage materials from two major Italian traditions of figure theatre. Its collections bring together the marionettes of Vittorio Podrecca's Teatro dei Piccoli and the work of artist Maria Signorelli.

Why it matters

Vittorio Podrecca was born in Cividale in 1883 and founded the Teatro dei Piccoli in Rome in 1914. His marionette company performed musical pieces, opera adaptations, fables and folk dances, including works composed for the company by Ottorino Respighi. Maria Signorelli rescued the Podrecca material from dispersal in the 1960s and brought it together with her own figure-theatre collection. The Ministry of Culture has recognised pieces in the collection as being of exceptional cultural interest.

What to notice

The centre presents marionettes, moved by strings from above, alongside burattini, or glove puppets, animated from below. Podrecca's characters include the soprano Sinforosa Strangolini and pianist Piccolowsky, while miniature stages and painted sets show how the company adapted musical and theatrical forms for puppetry. Signorelli's collection includes her Fantocci soft sculptures, puppets and materials related to productions set to music by Prokofiev, De Falla and Debussy. The holdings span the eighteenth to twentieth centuries.

Context and history

Signorelli founded L'Opera dei Burattini in 1947, taught puppet animation at Bologna's DAMS from 1972 and established UNIMA-Italia in 1980. Her work as a collector and artist complements Podrecca's history as an impresario and director. The centre occupies rooms within the monastery complex of Santa Maria in Valle, placing a modern theatrical collection alongside Cividale's early medieval architecture.